1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method, apparatus, and computer program product for tracking the financial value of inventory as that inventory is transferred from one physical storage location to another within a single plant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inventory management systems exist. Some of these systems provide for keeping track of the inventory on hand in one warehouse. If there is an excess of inventory in one warehouse and a shortage of that inventory in another warehouse, some known systems will alert a user that inventory is available in one warehouse that could be transferred to the other warehouse.
Other known systems provide for maintaining information about inventory, such as maintaining a shipping history about the inventory. Some systems track inventory using tags that are affixed to the inventory. These tags indicate the current location of the inventory to which they are affixed.
In current systems, an accounting document is created only when inventory is received at a plant or facility. A single general ledger account exists for all inventory in that plant. When a particular inventory item is received, it is valued by determining a cost for the inventory item. This cost is then posted by posting a financial debit to the single general ledger inventory account. Once inventory has been received, the general ledger account is not updated if, at a later time, this inventory is moved around within the plant.